Thursday meeting set for talks on Baton Rouge lakes improvements

Advocate staff file photo by RICHARD ALAN HANNON -- Public meetings have been called to discuss the future of Baton Rouge lakes and to brainstorm on improving the quality of the water resources

The first of a series of public meetings to get input on how the Baton Rouge lakes could be improved will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business Auditorium.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation announced plans in March to start work on a master plan to address long-standing problems with the six lakes owned by LSU and the city-parish.

Created out of a former swamp in the 1930s, the lakes have been filling with sediment from surrounding properties. That has resulted in water quality problems, such as low dissolved oxygen in the water as well as runoff from the interstate and the surrounding properties.

The shallowness of the lakes — City Park, University, Campus, College, Crest and Erie — also has restricted fishing, boating and swimming.